South Town

Drawn from nature and on stone by H Lamb.Printed by C Hullmandel (original picture credit).

The area that centres on the Bath Road was once called South Town and was a mainly artisan area built to serve the rapidly expanding and elegant centre of Cheltenham. The streets were created from about 1810 onwards. Stonemasons worked on the limestone from Leckhampton Hill, which was brought down to the stoneyards by the horse-drawn tramroad. Here lived the tradesmen, school teachers, stone masons, laundresses, coachmen and straw-bonnet makers that provided the services for the more affluent members of the town. Some of the pubs that served the local community still survive today i.e. The Norwood, The Brown Jug, The Exmouth Arms, The Five Alls, The Beehive and The Jolly Brewmaster.

At the centre of South Town, the area around Westal Brook remained the only green open space at the end of the 19th century. It was the Exmouth Arms' bowling-green and pleasure ground. The pub dates back to 1816 and commemorates Admiral Viscount Exmouth's stay in the spa, after he famously suppressed notorious Barbary pirates in Algiers.

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